“The mere idea of President Trump’s executive order suspending the entry into the country of various visitors, migrants and refugees was bad enough…. In execution, it was a disaster, plunging U.S. airports into chaos and displaying a shocking lack of forethought and planning and a deeply troubling failure of basic communication and coordination among and between federal and local authorities.”

“In Donald Trump’s America, there may be no more weekends — just an incessant cycle of shocks, of actions and reactions. For the second weekend in a row, Friday to Sunday was wall to wall with resistance and outrage.”

The upcoming White House visit by the UK’s Prime Minister will be “a study in awkwardness: the mother superior dropping in on the Playboy Mansion.” Theresa May is not a natural fan of the Donald. “So why is Mrs May hurrying to Washington? Because Brexit compels Britain’s leaders to show that the country has powerful allies.” She “is desperate to line up a Britain-America trade deal that can be closed as soon as Brexit takes place, probably in 2019.”

“The alternative facts beloved of Donald Trump’s White House doubtless record that the president’s inaugural address was greeted with unalloyed applause across the world. The speech was closely watched. The preponderant reaction among America’s friends was disbelieving horror…. The soft power accumulated by the US over decades drained to nothing in 17 short minutes.”

“It’s not even been a week in office and the Trump administration has already managed to send shivers of excitement through the arcane world of infrastructure investment with talk of new domestic projects…. Not surprisingly, asset managers with infrastructure teams are jumping on the renewed interest in the asset class, holding press briefings and webinars to provide clarity.”

Donald Trump “is never more certain than when he is completely clueless. The truth is that protection against foreign trade leads away from prosperity and strength. A country that deprives itself of foreign goods is doing to itself what an enemy might try to do in wartime — cut it off from outside commerce. It is volunteering to impoverish itself.”

China’s investment in financial technology (fintech) has surged ahead of North America’s, accounting for “more than half of all fintech investments globally in the first nine months of last year…. Specifically in terms of venture capital, the country more than doubled its worldwide share of the investment category, rising to 46% of the global total versus just 19% the same period in 2015.” In contrast, the U.S. dropped from 56% to 41%.

There is “a growing rift between Trump’s White House and the news organizations that cover it, less than two days into his administration.” On his first full day in office, both Trump and his press secretary “made easily disproved claims, adding fuel to his opponents’ charges that the president is a habitual liar.”

“Donald Trump’s inauguration heralds a new age of arrogance and says something sad and scary.” Trump is “a preening cartoon. He brags like he breathes. It’s autonomic. And he gloats the way our parents and teachers always told us not to.” His inauguration marks nothing less than the death of humility.

“Negotiating free-trade agreements will be harder and more time-consuming than Mrs May suggests.” Reaching a comprehensive deal in two years is unrealistic. “Canada’s free-trade deal with the EU has taken seven years and is not yet in force. For Britain to replicate the EU’s trade deals with 53 third countries will be more testing” and ratification remains “tricky,” requiring approval by every parliament in the EU.”